Right this moment I’m putting away my .Net development project and start working on the last stage of my Wicket presentation on JavaOne 2005. I have had little sleep the last few days, and am on a tight schedule as the presentation is due tonight. Hopefully I won’t run into any problems with my laptop or the network. Within a few hours you will see a message of great relieve when I’ve finally send my presentation to Sun. Starting tomorrow I’ll be working at the aforementioned article concerning Wicket (of course in my spare time, as work on my current .Net project continues).

I’m in the process of writing an article concerning Wicket. I’m wondering what the ambition should be and how to capture that in about 2000 words.

• focus on current MVC developers (largest population of developers)
• focus on (b)leading edge developers (small but very vocal population)

The difference in focus is the type of stuff you have to show. Current MVC developers have a different viewpoint than the (b)leading edge devs. The latter know already about component frameworks, and should be enticed to try Wicket, the current MVC developers may have heard about Component Frameworks (JSF, Tapestry), but many of them still haven’t, or were afraid to really try them.

So my question is: What do you look for in an article about a new, cool web application framework?

It is announced. June 5th we will deliver Wicket 1.0 final. This allows us to work on the last issues, test them and produce some publicity material.

Chandrasekhar questions whether Component Based Development is worth it. My answer to his question is:

YES! Component Based Development Is Worth It!

Let me explain. Even though I’m a committer on a component based web application framework, I support the whole idea of CBD for web gui’s, not just my pet project (though I’d prefer if one chooses Wicket :-P). There is no way you can create complex applications just as easily with the model2 frameworks as you can with CB frameworks.

In Component Based frameworks you let go of the idea of a Request, instead you work with your components and their events. There is not ‘one action to rule them all’, but each component can have (has) one or more events associated with them. For instance, a Form has an onSubmit event, and (in Wicket) many Forms may be present on one page. So yes you are partly right: the frameworks you mention (Struts and Spring MVC) ARE request driven, but the component based frameworks (JSF, Tapestry and Wicket) are Event driven.

Wicket allows you to create multiple sortable, pageable tables, which can sort and navigate independently. Of course this can be done with model2 frameworks, but how much effort will it take? In this case the necessary code size is very small and understandable.

I know that Tapestry and JSF also cater for this kind of complex GUI constructs, but differently, and if I might say: more complex and less elegant. But you should try it yourself, as I’m rather biased.

As for the other concern, the number of XML configuration files, this is just a matter of taste and framework. Wicket allows you to use ZERO (0) extra configuration files. The only required XML file is the web.xml file, which is mandated by the servlet specification. I’ll repeat: NO XML CONFIGURATION files necessary when using Wicket.

Considering performance, whether you choose to use a component library, or a tag library from a vendor, you should have those concerns either way. That is always a concern with vendor supplied software. When you develop your own components, you have all the power to tune the performance yourself. You are in a better position to do so, because you can test the component independently.

Furthermore, when using Wicket, you get clustering support out of the box (no sticky sessions required), when the clustering becomes problematic, Wicket allows you to exchange session size for computation. Thus allowing you to make a trade.

When you have such concerns about using component based frameworks, I’d suggest you try out one or the other. It is always a good thing to learn new stuff. And given your concerns, I’d definetely suggest you give Wicket a decent test drive. It may just make your day a little better.

This years JavaOne conference in San Francisco, CA will host two (2!) opportunities to see Wicket in action:

1. POJO Web Development With Wicket - hosted by Miko Matsumura and myself (Martijn Dashorst)
2. Web Framework Smackdown - at least hosted by Ed Burns, Howard Lewis Ship and my esteemed coworker and Wicket veteran: Eelco Hillenius

I’d like to extend my gratitude to my (and Eelco’s) employer: Topicus for sponsoring our trip to JavaOne. This is a rare opportunity I’d hate to miss!

Eelco and I will be in downtown San Francisco for the whole conference, padding a few days before and after, so if you’d like to share a beer and some thoughts, leave a note on either blog, the Wicket mailinglist, or on personal mail (can be found here).

See you at JavaOne!